* A ceremony to mark the start of construction work on the North European Gas Pipeline that will revolutionize the delivery of the country's natural gas to Europe was held about 310 miles from Moscow
* The chief editor and director general of a major independent TV channel in Kyrgyzstan said Friday that a possible attempt was being made to seize the building
* Ukraine's ICTV channel said the mutation of the bird flu virus discovered in the Crimea, an autonomy on the Black Sea, was unprecedented and extremely dangerous for humans
* President Vladimir Putin proposed canceling the re-registration of all non-governmental and non-profit organizations, including foreign ones
* Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder would chair a committee of shareholders of the Russian-German joint venture for the North European Gas Pipeline project
* The Ukrainian presidential secretariat said Ukraine might revise the terms for the Russian Black Sea Fleet's stay in Ukraine if Russia raised gas prices
* Moscow's Arbitration Court of Appeals upheld the ruling to reduce 2001 tax claims against Russia's TNK oil company from 4 billion rubles ($138 million) to 4 million ($138,000)
* A court in the Urals sentenced the former chief doctor of a maternity hospital to two years in jail for negligence and violating hygiene regulations that led to the deaths of six children in 2004
* The Voronezh Region healthcare department said albumin injections containing blood from an HIV-positive donor in Voronezh had not been passed to any other regions
* Alexander Borodyuk signed a contract to become a new senior coach of the Russian national soccer team
* Prosecutors said the documents seized during a raid of Neftyanoi Bank Thursday proved the bank was involved in money laundering
* Police in the Urals town of Chusovoi arrested two officials of a local company that conducts safety inspections of industrial buildings in connection with the investigation into Sunday's collapse of a swimming pool roof
* Russia's Federal Anti-Monopoly Service said it had approved a deal allowing state-owned foreign trade bank Vneshtorgbank (VTB) to increase its stake in St. Petersburg-based private Promstroibank (PSB) to 74.9%
